Straight-pull lock for military rifles.



H. STAMM.

STRAIGHT PULL LOOK FOR MILITARY RIFLES.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 13, 1913- Patented Jan. 5, 1915;

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H. STAMM.

STRAIGHT PULL LOOK FOR MILITARY RIFLES.

APPLICATION TILED NOV. 13, 1913- Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

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STRAIGHT PULL LOOK FOR MILITARY RIFLES..

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1913- Ptented Jan. 5, 1915.

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H. STAMM. STRAIGHT PULL LOOK FOR MILITARY RtFLEs.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1913- Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

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HANS STAMM,

OF ST. GALLEN,

SWITZERLAND.

STRAIGHT-PULL LOOK FOR MILITARY RIFLES.

Application filed. November 13, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HANS STAMM, a citizen of the Republic of Switzerland, residing at St. Gallen, Switzerland, have invented new and useful Improvements in.

Straight-Pull Looks for Military Rifles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Most of the military rifles to be found in use possess bolts which require four movements for opening and closing, which operation cannot be formed in the aiming position, but only after the rifle for this purpose has been lowered into a convenient position after each shot. This manipulation requires, for the modern mode of fighting, too much time, as the rifle must again be brougat into the aiming position every time, and therefore the mark must be found and retained again, which operation requires a comparatively long time. On account of this considerable drawback several rifle systerns have arisen which possess so-called straight pull locks. Such rifles possess the advantage that for operating the rifle only two straight line movements are necessary, which furthermore can be made in the aiming position. It is evident that by this manipulation occurring in the aiming position and necessitating only two movements, the direction of aim of the rifle is inconsiderably influenced. The mark can therefore be comparatively rapidly and surely found after each shot. Apart from this eminent advantage, the speed of firing with rifles possessing straight pull locks is more than twice as great, which in the future reequipping of an army would be a decisive matter. I

The subject-matter of this invention is a straight pull breech for military rifles of the type in which the breech bolt can be turned into the bolted and unbolted position, or can be pushed into the closed and open position respectively on a reciprocatory movement of the sleeve. This is accomplished by means of a sleeve movable on the back part of the breech bolt, and guided in the breech case behind the loading opening, spiral ribs being provided on one part and engaging in Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

Serial No. 800,798.

corresponding grooves on the other part. Moreover the breech bolt is prevented from turning, when in the unbolted position, by means of the striker lug, which is projected into a notch on the back end of the breech bolt under the eifect of the striking spring. In the hitherto known straight pull breeches of this description, a coupling piece is screwed on to the back end of the breech bolt, by means of which the sleeve, when the breech is open, is coupled with the breech bolt. This coupling piece possesses two safety rests, of which one receives the striker lug in its unsafe position and the other receives same in its safe position. In such construction, in order to move the striker from the unsafe position to the safe position or vice versa, the striker, while raising the security for the breech bolt, must be extracted with its lug from the rest, then rotated and hereupon pushed into the other rest. Such operation is inconvenient, incurs awaste of time, and is dangerous in that the breech bolt, which during. this movement of the striker, is not secured, and might rotate with relation to the operating sleeve. Further, in these known rifles, besides the mentioned notch a second safety notch must be provided on the back end of the breech bolt, and into this second notch the lug of the striker projects in the unsecured position, in order to prevent a. rotation of the breech bolt in relation to the operating sleeve which is also in the unsecured position of the striker. In order to remedy this drawback, the striker, according to this invention, is provided with a thread on its rear part and on this thread is situated a nut which latter is provided with an arm, which carries on its front end the striker lug said lug being guided in a longitudinal slot provided underneath on the rear part of the operating sleeve. Hence the striker can be brought into a safe position by a simple partial rotation, by means of a threaded part, in the bolted as well as in the unbolted position and in the position when the striker is extracted from the breech case, without disengaging the striker lug from the breech bolt. At the same time a common rotating of the operating sleeve and breech-bolt is prevented when the breech is opened and when the springs are more strongly tensioned by means of the securing of the striker.

A form of construction of the subject matter of this invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying draw- 1I10SZ Figure 1 is an elevation of a part of the military rifle provided with the straight pull breech with the bolt in locked position. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the breech in an unbolted and drawnback position. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the breech in the bolted position, with striker ready for action. Fig. 4 is a vertical section partly in elevation of the breech in unbolted and drawnback position, with the striker automatically secured, at the moment of ejecting an empty cartridge case. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through the breech shown in Fig. 1, with the striker secured by hand. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section through the breech shown in Figs. 2 and 4. Fig. 7 is rear elevation of the breech according to Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is a view of the bottom of Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a section on the line A- of Fig. 2. Figs. 10 to 12 are side, top, and front views, respectively of the striker nut. Figs. 13 and 14 are bottom and end elevations respectively of the striker sleeve.

The illustrated military rifle is provided with a straight pull breech, which consists mainly of three principal constituent parts, namely, the breech-bolt, the operating sleeve and the striking apparatus (Figs. 16). The breech-bolt 1 has its rear end rotatably mounted in the operating sleeve 4 which is arranged behind the loading opening 2 of the breech case 3 (Fig. 3). The sleeve 4 is not rotatable but can only reciprocate in a guide of the breech case 3. The rear part of the breech-bolt 1 can re ciprocate in the sleeve 4, in which case the breech-bolt, however, is compelled to rotate at the same time in the sleeve 4, by means of slightly ascending spiral ribs 5, which engage in correspondingly formed grooves 6 in the breech-bolt (Figs. 3 and 4). On the forward movement of the sleeve 4 the cylinder 1 with its two lock nibs 7 provided on its front end is turned to the right by means of said spiral ribs and grooves, that is, it is bolted; by the backward movement of the sleeve 4 the breech-bolt 1 is turned to the left, or unbolted. On the sleeve 4, at the top and bottom as well as on both sides, strong guide strips 8 and 9 respectively are arranged, which reciprocate in corresponding guide grooves 10 and 11 respectively on the breech case 3 (Fig. 7). The lower guide strip 8, in its lower part, is formed in its section like a swallow-tail as is also the accessory lower groove 10 (Figs. 7 and 9). The guide grooves 11 on the breech case serve also for guiding the breech-bolt nibs 7 and stretch therefore to the right and left as far as the rear end of the barrel, where they end in the edges 12 (Fig. 3) situated in front of the loading opening 2, between which edges the lock nibs 7 are rotated for locking. The sleeve 4 is provided with a lateral handle 13, which lies when the breech is bolted, in a slot 14 of the case 3 (Figs. 5 and 6).

The striking apparatus is mounted in the breech-bolt 1 (Fig. 3) and consists of a needle 15, which is mounted on the front end of a striker 16 in front of the striking spring 17, so that it is easily removable. At the back end of the striker 16, this striking spring 17 is held by means of a sleeve 18 screwed in the breech-bolt 1, which sleeve serves for guiding the striker and lies with its head 18 against the back'end of the cylinder. The striker 16 is provided behind the sleeve 18 with thread 19, on which a non-rotatable striker nut 20 (Figs. 10 to 12) is removably screwed. This nut is provided beneath the striker with an arm 21 projecting forward, the front end of which forms the striker lug separated from the striker (Fig. 3) and on closing the bolt the lug strikes against the sear lug 32 and is caught by this under the influence of the compression of the striking spring.

At the back end of the breech-bolt there is a deep notch 22 (Fig. 4), and also a slightly deeper safety notch 23 (Fig. 3), which are connected together by means of a sloping surface 24 (Fig. 4). A cam 25 provided on the striker lug 21 (Figs. 10 and 11) for securing the breech-bolt 1 against unintentional rotation, cotiperates with these two notches. After firing, the cam '25 of the striker lies in the notch 22 and is pressed into same by the effect of the striking spring 17 (Fig. 5). If now the breech is opened, then the non-rotatable striker nut 20 to-' gether with the striker 16 rotated relatively to the breech-bolt and the needle 15 is automatically drawn back, due to the rotating of the breech-bolt l, by means of the mentioned sloping surface 24, until the point of the needle no longer touches the cap of the cartridge (Fig. 4), whereupon the striker nut 20 snaps with the cam 25 into the second notch 23 on the back end of the breech-bolt and by means of the compression of the striking spring 17, rigidly couples the lock breech-bolt 1 with the striker nut 20 and holds the needle in this automatically secured position also in relation to the sleeve (Fig. 6). In order also to be able to secure the striker by hand when the breech is opened and closed or bolted as well as when the breech is extracted from the case 3, the striker 16 is provided at its back end with a head 26 provided with a forged arm 27. By laying this arm over or by turning the striker 16 by means of this arm an angle of 180, the striker 16 can now be screwed so far out of the striker nut 20, that on closing the breech, as well as during the relaxing of the striking spring 17 the breech remains secured, that is, the striker with the point of the needle is drawn back into the breech-bolt 1 (Fig. The striker 16 is now held fast by means of a pin 28 (Fig. 3), in this screwed back position as well as in the unsecured position, the pin 28 is movably mounted in the arm 21 of the nut 20, and, under the influence of a spring, can snap into a cavity 29 (Fig. 3) on the head 26 of the striker. On the head 26 two cavities 29 placed at an angle of 180 to each other are provided for the two positions of the arm 27. The striker nut 20 has also the exceedingly important function of coupling the sleeve at with the breech-bolt 1 at the correct moment. The sleeve 18 is provided on the lower part of the head 18 with a groove (Figs. 13 and 1&), in which the arm 21 of the striker nut 20, on tensioning and releasing the striking apparatus, can reciprocate. The sleeve 4. is also provided at the back underneath, at the same place with a slot 31 (Figs. 3, 4, 7 and 8), in which the arm 21 can reciprocate, and the sleeve, on account of this long slot 31, can reciprocate without hindrance, without influencing the arm 21 guided in the slot, that is, without disengaging said arm from the breech bolt 1. The arm 21 with the nose 25, when the breech is opened, will always lie in the safety notches 23 at the back end of the breech-bolt, that is coupled with the breechbolt, but at the same time will always be situated in the groove 30 of the head 18 and in the slot 31 of the sleeve 4;, so that a moving or turning of these parts in relation to each other is completely prevented. When the breech is closed an unintentional moving of the breech parts can also not take place.

32 (Fig. 3) is the sear lug for catching and tensioning the striker, 33 is the trigger and 3% is the resilient cartridge case ejector, which, when the breech is bolted, projects into the slot 31 of the sleeve (Fig. 3).

36 is the cartridge case extractor (Figs. i, 5 and 6).

37 is the cartridge magazine, 38 is the butt of the rifle and 39 is the breech-securing lever mounted on the case 3 (Figs. 5 and 6), which in its stationary position prevents an unintentional extraction of the breech from the case 3, but however, on being turned outward renders an extraction of the breech possible.

The operation of the rifle is as follows: To load the rifle, the sleeve handle 13 is drawn back, the breech-bolt 1 with its nibs 7 is thus rotated, unbolted and then drawn back behind the loading opening 2, by means of the rib 5 and the groove 6. By the rotation of the breech-bolt, the striker nut 20, together with the striker and needle 15 coupled with same, is drawn backward in the manner described above and also the needle with the needle point is drawn back from the cartridge cap and the cam 25 on the arm 21 is snapped into the safety notch on the back edge of the breech-bolt (Fig. 1), whereby, on opening the breech, the striker is also automatically secured, while on closing the breech, it is again automatically released; If the breech is closed by pushing the sleeve 4 forward in a straight line, then the arm 21 of the striker nut 20 strikes, before the end of the forward move ment, against the sear lug 32 (Fig. 3), whereby the striking spring 17 is compressed. The sleeve 4 and the breech-bolt 1, however, continue their movement, in which case the cam 25 on the arm 21 of the striker nut 20 escapes from the safety notch 22 of the back edge of the breech-bolt. At the same time, by means of the sleeve 4, the breeclrbolt 1 with its nibs 7 is rotated behind the rests 12, whereupon the rifle is again ready for use. By drawing back the striker 16 out of the striker nut 20 by means of the head 26 as hereinbefore described renders it possible that the breech can be secured in every position by hand, namely in a completely closed condition, when the breech is completely opened and when it is projecting from the case 3, as also when the striking spring is tensioned, directly before shooting. All known manipulations can be performed also with sharp cartridges, without danger, when the rifle is in this secured condition. This manner of securing the striker, which is a result of the screwing of the striker with the striker'nut, has also the great advantage that striker and striker nut remain rigidly connected with each other, in a secured and unsecured condition, and therefore by means of the strong striking spring, can always be pressed as a whole with the cam 25 into one of the two notches 22 and 23 of the back end of the breech-bolt, which has as a result that by means of this striker nut, all parts of the breech are held by the strong striking spring, in the correct position in relation to each other. A sec ond safety notch, such as is necessary in the known breeches mentioned at the beginning, is dispensed with in this case. Of course the striker can be released and the rifle can again be made ready for use, with any position of the breech by simply turning the striker arm 27 in the opposite direction. When the breech is opened, then as already mentioned, the breech, the breech-bolt, and the striker are coupled together, owing to the fact that the cam 25 of the striker nut 26 lies in the safety notch 23 of the breechbolt 1 and the arm 21 lies in the groove 30 of the head 18 and in the slot 31 of the operating sleeve. It might, however, arise that, when the breech is extracted from the case 3, the cam 25 is pressed out of the notch 23, by means of a blow or by allowing said breech to fall, whereby a displacement of the sleeve and breech-bolt could take place. In order to prevent this a safety lever 40 is resiliently mounted on the sleeve 4 in the right guide strip of same (Figs. 2, 5 and 6), which safety lever carries on one end a flap 4:1, and on the other end a nose 42 (Figs. 6 and 9). Further, on the breechbolt 1 a cavity 48 is provided for the nose =12 (Figs. 3 and 4.). The nose as well as the cavity is formed with a sharp edge. When the sleeve is drawn back on opening the breech and the breech-bolt l is thus turned into the unbolted position, then when the cam 25 of the striker nut snaps into the safety notch 23 on the breech-bolt 1, also the nose -12 of the safety lever l0 will fall at the same time into the cavity 43 of the breechbolt, and thus prevent the breech-bolt from unintentionally rotating. For taking the breech to pieces the sleeve is taken in the left hand, a pressure is exercised on the breeclrsecuring lever 4-0, which then releases the breecl1bolt for rotating. The breechbolt is grasped in front with the right hand and rotated and its entire back end passes out of the bolt 4:, whereupon the striker 16 together with the striker nut 20 with the striking spring sleeve 18 is screwed out of the breech-bolt, so that now the breech-bolt can be extracted from the front of the sleeve and further, after taking away the needle 15, the parts 16, 17, 18 and 20 are released from each other. On closing the breech, the securing lever projecting otherwise with the flap ll from the strip 9 (Fig. 6), is automatically moved, with the cam 42 out of the cavity 4-3 (Fig. 5), owing to the fact that the flap 4-1 is pressed inward by means of the wall of the right guiding groove 11 on the case 12, so that the sleeve can rotate for bolting.

I claim:

1. In a rifle, a breech bolt, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breech-bolt into bolted and unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker arm, a striker carrying the latter and capable of movement relatively to the arm, said arm being arranged to engage the breech-bolt in its unlocked position to prevent rotation. of the latter relative to the operating sleeve.

2. In a rifle, a breech-bolt, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breech-bolt into bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker, and a striker arm arranged to engage the breech-bolt in its unlocked position to prevent rotation of the latter relative to the operating sleeve, said sleeve having a longitudinal slot form ing a guide for the striker arm.

3. In a rifle, a breech-bolt, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breech-bolt into-bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker, a striker arm arranged to engage the breech-bolt in its unlocked position to prevent rotation of the latter relative to the operating sleeve, and means to adjust the striker relative to the arm.

4:- In a rifle, a breech-bolt, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breech-bolt into the bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into the locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker, a striker arm, a notch on the rear end of the breech-bolt, said arm engaging the notch in the unlocked position of the breech-bolt to, prevent rotation of the latter relatively to the operating sleeve, said operating sleeve having a longitudinal slot forming a guide for the striker arm, and a nut on the striker adapted to retract the latter when the breech-bolt is in the unbolted or bolted position.

5. In a rifle, a breech-bolt, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breech-bolt into the bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into "the locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker, a striker arm, a notch on the rear end of the breech-bolt, said arm engaging the notch in the unlocked position of the breech-bolt to prevent rotation of the latter relatively to the operating sleeve, said sleeve having a longitudinal slot forming a guide for the striker arm, a nut on the striker adapted to retract the latter when the breech-bolt is in the unbolted or bolted position, and a guide sleeve for the striker secured to the breechbolt and projecting beyond the rear end of the latter, said sleeve having a longitudinal groove in which the striker arm projects and holds the sleeve against rotation when the striker device is tensioned and released.

6. In a rifle, a breech-bolt, a breech case arranged behind the loading opening, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breechbolt into the bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into the locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker, a striker arm having a lug arranged to engage a notch on the rear end of the breechbolt to prevent rotary movement of the latter relative to the operating sleeve, a nut on the striker carrying said arm, said sleeve having a longitudinal slot arranged to guide said arm, a thread on the rear end of the striker engaging said nut whereby the striker may be adjusted relative to the striker arm.

7. In a rifle, a breech-bolt, a breech case arranged behind the loading opening, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breechbolt into the bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into the locked or open position when reciprocated, a

striker, a striker arm having a lug arranged to engage a notch on the rear end of the breech-bolt to prevent rotary movement of the latter relative to the operating sleeve, a nut on the striker carrying said arm, said sleeve having a longitudinal slot arranged to guide said arm, a thread on the rear end of the striker engaging said nut whereby the striker may be adjusted relative to the striker arm, and means for securing said striker in its adjusted position.

8. In a rifle, a breech-bolt, a breech case arranged behind the loading opening, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breech-bolt into the bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into the locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker, a striker arm having a lug arranged to engage a notch on the rear end of the breech-bolt to prevent rotary movement of the latter relative to the operating sleeve, a nut on the striker carrying said a'rm,-said sleeve having a longitudinal slot arranged to guide said arm, a thread on the rear end of the striker engaging said nut whereby the striker may be adjusted relative to the striker arm, a head on the striker for rotating the latter in the nut, and a resilient locking pin in the latter arranged to engage recesses in the head to hold the striker in its adjusted position.

9. In a military rifle, a straight pull breech comprising, a breech-bolt, a breech case arranged behind the loading opening, an operating sleeve capable of turning the breech-bolt into the bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into the locked or open position when reciprocated, a striker, a nut on the striker, an arm rigidly connectedto the nut and having a lug engaging a notch on the rear end of the breechbolt when the latter is in the unlocked position to prevent the rotary movement of the breech-bolt relative to the operating sleeve, said bolt having a longitudinal groove forming a guide for said arm, said striker having a threaded rear end engaging the nut to permit the striker to be brought into a secure position when the breech-bolt is in the unbolted or bolted position and in the position when it is taken out of the breech case by means of a partial rotation of the striker, while the striker lug remains engaged with the breech-bolt.

10. In a military rifle, a straight pull breech comprising, a breech-bolt, a breech cas'e arranged behind the loading opening, an operating lever capable of turning the breech-bolt into the bolted or unbolted position and move said breech-bolt into the locked or open position when reciprocated, a spring actuated securing lever on said operating sleeve arranged to engage a niche on the breech-bolt, when the breech is open, means for moving said lever positively out of the niche when the breech is closed, a striker, a nut on the striker, an arm rigidly connected to the nut and having a lug engaging a notch on the rear end of the breech-bolt when the latter is in the unlocked position to prevent the rotary movement of the breech-bolt relative to the operating sleeve, said sleeve having a longitudinal groove forming a guide for said arm, said striker having a threaded rear end engaging the nut to permit the striker to be brought into a secure position when the breech-bolt is in the unbolted or bolted position and in the position when it is taken out of the breech case by means of a partial rotation of the striker, while the striker lug remains engaged with the breech-bolt.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HANS STAMM.

Witnesses RANDALL ATKrNsoN, EUGENE NABEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C." 

